What do you mean by cutting a square bamboo stick and painting a broken harp? Any allusions?

Cutting a square bamboo stick, but drawing a broken piano, is to cut a square bamboo stick into a round stick, but draw it on a broken piano, which is generally used to illustrate the meaning of dying.

Its specific source comes from bamboo sticks. During Tang Wuzong's time, Li Deyu had been to Runzhou when he was in Huainan. At that time, he said that he was on a business trip and playing, so he came to the very famous Kanluoji. As a thank you, he gave a square bamboo stick made of bamboo to the monks in the temple.

This bamboo stick is different from other bamboo sticks. It's made in Dawan, and the material is very hard. The cross section of the bamboo stick is square and the appearance is rectangular. Bamboo whips are everywhere. At that time, crutches of this shape were very rare, so they were very precious.

Many years later, Li Deyu revisited his hometown, came to Kanluoji again, and met the monks at that time again. Li Deyu asked him if the bamboo stick he had sent at that time was still there. The monk said that he had been there and cherished it, and it has been treasured until now. Then Li Deyu asked the monk to show it to him, and the monk went to get it. As a result, the bamboo stick has been cut into a cylindrical crutch by the monk, and he has drawn it wisely. Li Deyu was very sorry to see this bamboo stick.

At that time, someone present wrote a poem "Cut a square bamboo pole and paint a broken piano", mainly satirizing the old monk's disorderly use of things, saying that although a round cane is more suitable for crutches, it is entirely possible to buy another round cane. Do you need a round crutch if you have time to cut it into a round crutch? Therefore, it is also used by many people to satirize people who squander things and kill chickens with knives.